


The Anxieties of a Mother Duck

by chorus_fruit



Category: Asagao Academy: Normal Boots Club
Genre: "webflix and chill", Coming Out, First Kiss, Ian is slightly ooc whoops, Injury, Kissing, M/M, PBG is the mom friend, Swearing, anxious!PBG, being high on pain medication, mentions of sports, sports-related injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-13
Updated: 2017-07-13
Packaged: 2018-12-01 12:12:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11486142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chorus_fruit/pseuds/chorus_fruit
Summary: Jeff gets hurt. PBG worries.





	The Anxieties of a Mother Duck

**Author's Note:**

> So...uh...hi? It's been a little while since I've written anything so sorry about that! But here's something!
> 
> Hope you enjoy~

The second he'd gotten the text, he rushed out of his dorm and down the halls with all the speed of a formula one racecar. The leftover panic from yesterday afternoon's events began flowing through his veins again, and he knew it was silly to be reacting this way, but he couldn't help it. Anxiety did what it did.

 

_ Good morning _ , the text had read. It'd obviously been completed with autocorrect, as Jeff rarely capitalized the first letter of his sentences when it came to texting. And the message hadn't been an invitation, obviously, but PBG felt the need to stop by, more for his sake than Jeff's.

 

He rapped on the door with a closed fist and rocked on his heels, waiting for someone, either Jeff or Ian, to answer. It opened a crack, and there was Jeff, holding the doorknob with his working hand, letting the other dangle limply at his side.

 

PBG shot a fleeting glance at it. It was wrapped in a thick cast that covered part of his hand, immobilizing his fingers, and half of his forearm. It was a dull greyish-blue color, and it appeared that Ian had already gotten to writing on it; the words  _ get well soon, asshole,  _ were printed in thick, messy black marker.

 

"Hey," Jeff mumbled. Clearly he'd only been expecting a text back, and not an actual visitor, based on his sleepy-looking physical state.

 

He opened his mouth to say something else, but PBG cut him off by forcing the door open further and pulling Jeff into the tightest possible hug. Jeff laughed through the morning gunk in his throat.

 

"God! Don't freakin' scare me like that!" PBG exclaimed.

 

"It's not that bad," Jeff reassured, leaving his damaged hand limp while the other rested gently on PBG's back. "Just a fracture. They even said I can still play soccer as long as I'm careful and, y'know, not goalie."

 

PBG pulled away, observing the messy dorm. It appeared Jeff was the only one there.

 

"Where's Ian?" PBG asked frantically. "Did he leave you alone in here?"

 

"He just went to get breakfast, it's  _ fine _ , dude," Jeff said, walking back into the room and sitting on the lower bunk. "It's not like I'm in a wheelchair. I can  _ function _ , just not...well."

 

"Have you eaten?" PBG sat next to him on the bed, his tone resembling a mother's, or maybe even a grandmother's.

 

"Ian's bringing me something," Jeff said. "I'm too high on pain medication to walk all the way to the cafeteria."

 

"Do you want me to stay until he gets back?"

 

"Even if I say no, you're going to." Jeff laughed. He looked down at the floor, running the fingers of his functional hand through his messy hair.

 

"I know you were playing goalie," PBG began, "but what exactly happened? I missed it."

 

"Someone kicked the ball towards me," Jeff began. "And I reached out to grab it—" he gestured with his damaged hand as he explained, "—but I smacked my wrist on the goal post, and then the ball hit my hand at the same time. It was pretty funny, actually. And now I have a fractured fuckin' wrist."

 

PBG frowned. It didn't seem very funny to him.

 

"Does it hurt?" PBG gently grabbed Jeff's cast with both of his hands, brushing his fingers over Jeff's limp ones.

 

"Not at the moment, no." Jeff rubbed his eyes with his other hand. "But in a few hours, when the medication wears off, it will. Right now it's just a little numb."

 

PBG continued playing with Jeff's fingers absentmindedly as he spoke, and Jeff looked away from him, trying to hide the pink that stained his cheeks.

 

"Are you gonna go to class today?" PBG asked. Jeff shook his head.

 

"I can't fuckin' think straight, man," Jeff said. "This medication's making me all...fuzzy. I'd rather just, like, watch Webflix all day."

 

"So you're just gonna be  _ alone  _ in here all day?"

 

"It's just like being sick, Austin," Jeff said quietly. "Don't worry about me."

 

"You're my  _ best friend,  _ I've  _ gotta  _ worry about you it's my  _ job _ ," PBG said anxiously. He let go of Jeff's hand and it rested awkwardly on his thigh. Jeff pulled it back quickly.

 

"You can leave the worrying to my roommate," Jeff said. "I'll text you if I need anything, I promise. You should probably go get ready for class, now."

 

"But I don't wanna," PBG whined. He flopped down on the bed, on his back. "Can't we just Webflix and chill all day?"

 

Jeff puffed out his cheeks, trying not to laugh. "I'm fairly sure you don't know what that means."

 

"Oh," PBG furrowed his eyebrows, trying to think of what it could possibly mean other than exactly what it sounded like.

 

Jeff chuckled nervously, looking pointedly away from his friend.

 

PBG opened his mouth to say something else, but stopped when the door opened with a soft  _ click.  _ He leaned up on his elbows to look, and saw Ian poking his head through the door.

 

"Uh...hi," Ian said in a mildly confused tone. "I see Mister Mother Duck is here."

 

"Mother Duck?" PBG questioned.

 

"You were being  _ such  _ a mom last night," Ian said, entering the room and closing the door behind him. He had a styrofoam food box in one hand, clearly carrying breakfast meant for Jeff. "You kept calling me to ask if Jeff was back from the ER. Over and over again. Every five minutes. Eventually I just gave up and shoved my phone in a drawer so I could actually get some sleep."

 

"Oh my god." Jeff sat up and glanced at PBG, a smile stretching over his cheekbones. "Did you really?"

 

"No," PBG lied.

 

"Wait, I can prove it," Ian said, setting the box down on the desk and pulling out his phone. He shoved it in Jeff's face. Sure enough, in Ian's call history, there were at least twenty calls from PBG, several of them missed.

 

"Holy shit, Austin," Jeff exclaimed, lightly punching PBG in the shoulder with his undamaged hand. "Mother Duck is right."

 

"I was worried! I have freakin' anxiety!" PBG defended himself.

 

"Yeah, yeah, suuure," Ian said, rolling his eyes. "That's  _ all  _ it is. It's not like it's a Jeff-specific thing, right? I mean, I  _ totally _ don't have a voicemail that you left last night that implies—"

 

"SSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHH!!" PBG stood up, putting a finger to his lips and leaning towards Ian. "Shh."

 

"What's this about?" Jeff asked nervously.

 

"Nothing!" PBG exclaimed quickly.

 

"Mmm-hmm," Ian hummed, grabbing his backpack from the floor and stepping towards the door. "Of course. Nothing. I'm going to leave for class, now. You coming?"

 

"Nah," PBG replied.

 

"No, go to class," Jeff protested.

 

"Nope. Staying here," PBG said simply, sitting back down on the bed with his arms crossed firmly over his chest.

 

"I thought so." Ian turned and left the room without another word.

 

Jeff laid back down on the bed, one arm behind his head.

 

"You should eat," PBG said.

 

"But  _ mooooom _ ," Jeff mocked, "I'm not hungry."

 

"But  _ Jeeefffffff _ ," PBG imitated him, "you need calories if you want your fractured wrist to get better."

 

"Tell me about this supposed voicemail and then I'll eat."

 

"Listen," PBG began, gesturing wildly as he spoke. "I wasn't thinking straight last night, anything I said probably isn't true."

 

"And I'm not thinking straight  _ now _ ," Jeff said. PBG let out a deep huff of breath.

 

"I'm not sure I can repeat what I said if I'm not on an adrenaline rush like last night," PBG explained. Jeff sat up, looking towards the third year.

 

"Well, what gets you anxious?" Jeff asked.

 

"Pretty much anything you do, I guess?"

 

Jeff paused, thinking.

 

"Wait, why do  _ I  _ make you anxious?"

 

"You...because..." PBG stuttered, realizing he'd made a mistake. He covered his face with his hands, and his next words were muffled by his palms. "...I dunno? Your face is just really anxiety-inducing?"

 

"What do you mean?" Jeff turned towards PBG, crossing his legs and resting his hands gently on his knees.

 

"I mean...like..." PBG began, taking his hands off his face. His cheeks were red as a sunset. "...you know that feeling you get when you're about to beat a really hard boss in a video game, and your hands get all shaky, and your heart starts beating really fast, and you get butterflies in your stomach, and then it makes it harder to beat the boss because you're feeling all those things?"

 

"Yeah. Of course."

 

PBG sighed lowly, looking up at the ceiling of the bunk bed. "That's how I feel whenever I talk to you."

 

Jeff bit his tongue suddenly, diverting his attention to the wall. "...you feel that way right now?"

 

"Yeah," PBG said simply.

 

"You said all that in the voicemail?" Jeff continued asking questions.

 

"Paraphrased, but yes."

 

"Clearly, Ian gets it, and I'm pretty sure  _ I  _ get it, but do  _ you  _ know why you feel that way?"

 

PBG frowned, concentrating on his own thoughts. "I'm not sure."

 

"That's helpful," Jeff said sarcastically. He rubbed his eyes with the thumb and index finger of his undamaged hand. "Okay, uh, have you ever felt like that about someone else?"

 

"Hana," PBG said immediately. "But that was different. I had a crush on her and she's a girl and cute and she has a nice face and..."

 

"Okay, okay," Jeff interrupted him, holding his hand out. "My brain's still all fuzzy, so I'm probably wrong here; but from what I understand, you're saying that you feel the same way about me as you did Hana, but it was different for her because she's a girl. Why does it have to be different?"

 

PBG pouted, in that puppy-dog way he always did. Subconsciously, Jeff pouted too.

 

"I..." PBG began, trying to come up with a semi-plausible answer. "...don't...know?"

 

He paused. Jeff glanced quickly at PBG's hand, which was resting idly on the sheets beside him.

 

"I guess it doesn't have to be?" PBG continued. "I just never thought about it like that because I never considered..."

 

"...that you're anything other than straight?" Jeff finished his sentence for him. "Yeah, me too. Ian basically had to slap me in the face to get me to realize."

 

He glanced at PBG's hand again. It looked awfully inviting.

 

PBG laughed quietly. "You're not gonna slap me in the face, are you?"

 

"No, no," Jeff reassured. He finally worked up the courage and reached out with his undamaged hand, intertwining his fingers with the other teen's. PBG puffed out his cheeks nervously. "So long as you admit it."

 

"Admit what?"

 

Jeff snorted. "That you're not fuckin' straight," Jeff said. "And that you totally love me."

 

PBG made an odd, strained noise in the back of his throat, almost sounding like a small, angry dog. "Uh."

 

"It's not that weird once you say it, I promise," Jeff said, squeezing PBG's hand tighter.

 

"I'm...not straight?" PBG said, more like a question than a statement. "I'm bi, I think."

 

"And I'm pan, just to clear things up," Jeff said. "Now the other thing."

 

PBG blushed. "I totally love you, you're right."

 

Jeff threw his head back and laughed.

 

"What's so funny?" PBG asked.

 

"Nothing, nothing," Jeff defended himself. "I...never really thought I'd hear you say that, is all, and now I'm happy."

 

Still holding Jeff's hand, PBG turned and sat cross-legged facing him. "You're happy?"

 

"Yeah," Jeff said, going red in the face.

 

"...Why, though?" PBG asked. Jeff snorted.

 

"'Cause I totally love you too."

 

"You do? Why?"

 

Jeff shook his head and looked at the wall. "I knew it. I  _ knew  _ you were going to say that!"

 

PBG furrowed his eyebrows. Jeff laughed again.

 

"I love you because...well, because you're  _ you _ ," Jeff began, rubbing his thumb over the back of PBG's hand. "I love your stupid hair and that puppy-dog face you always make and how you worry about me when I get hurt during soccer and I love your smile and that stupid flannel you always wear," he took a breath, "and your voice,  _ especially  _ your singing voice, and when you started staring at Hana when she first transferred here I  _ so  _ wished you were staring at me."

 

PBG blinked. "That's...a lot to take in," he said. "And now I feel guilty 'cause I can't match it with an equal speech."

 

"Don't feel guilty!" Jeff exclaimed. "I love you, you're not supposed to feel guilty for that."

 

"But...you...nevermind," PBG said, looking down, his hair hanging over his face.

 

Jeff took his damaged hand, brushing his fingers under PBG's chin. PBG looked back up at him, puppy-dog look on his face.

 

"Question," Jeff said lowly, looking into PBG's eyes, "you've never kissed a guy before, right?"

 

PBG puffed out his cheeks, huffing a breath. "You...you know the answer to that!"

 

"Yeah, I do." Jeff smiled. "Would you want to?"

 

PBG looked like he was panicking, for a moment, before he replied.

 

"Sure," he said dumbly. Jeff snorted.

 

"Okay," Jeff said. Using the hand already on PBG's chin, he drew their faces together.

 

The kiss was short but sweet, chapped lips pressing against soft ones, gentle as butterfly wings. It stopped as quickly as it began and PBG blinked a few times.

 

Jeff lowered his hand, setting it on his knee. "How was that?"

 

"Good, your lips are chapped though," PBG commented. Jeff smiled.

 

"Guess I should start using lip balm?" Jeff asked. PBG shrugged.

 

"Eh, if you want to, I mean, I don't really  _ mind _ …"

 

Jeff laughed. "Okay, I won't then."

 

"You should eat now."

 

"Yeah, I should, and you should go to class."

 

PBG pouted. "You promise you'll be okay on your own?"

 

"I'll be  _ fine _ , Austin." Jeff shifted and stood to grab the box of food on the desk. PBG stood as well, heading for the door. "Oh, and one more thing before you leave?"

 

"Yeah?" PBG asked.

 

"Wanna be my boyfriend?" Jeff asked meekly.

 

This time, it was PBG's turn to laugh happily. "Sure."


End file.
